San Bernardino County Biographies

San Bernardino County

Biographies

HON. JOHN LLOYD CAMPBELL,

Judge of the Superior Court in and for San Bernardino County, was born in Equality, Gallatin County, Illinois, in 1855. His father, Hon. John Lewis Campbell, was connected with the banking business in Shawneetown, and with iron and salt manufacture in Southern Illinois for many years. In 1857 he moved to Sioux City, Iowa, and was there elected County Judge. When the war of the Rebellion broke out, he moved back to Illinois and enlisted in the Third Illinois Cavalry, of which he was made Major. In 1863, while placing his pickets near Jackson, Mississippi, he was shot in the side, shoulder and face by a squad of Confederate soldiers and supposed to be fatally wounded; but, by the exercise of his extraordinary will aided by great tenacity of life, he partially recovered and lived until 1875, though always suffering from the effects of his wounds, which finally induced the paralysis which terminated his life. After the war he was appointed Postmaster at Olney, Illinois, by President Lincoln, which office he held until his death, in 1875.

After graduating from the high school of his native State the subject of this memoir entered Hanover College, Indiana, but was called home at the end of his first college year by the death of his father, and did not return. He attended Columbia College Law School, New York, and was graduated therefrom in the spring of 1878. Coming to California, he settled in San Bernardino in 1879, and entered into a law partnership with Colonel A. B. Paris, which was terminated at the end of the year by Mr. Campbell's returning to the East. He located in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he practiced his profession three years. In 1883 he came back to San Bernardino at the request of Judge J. A. Gibson and formed a partnership with that gentleman. In 1884 Mr. Campbell was candidate on the Republican ticket for District Attorney, and his law partner ran for Superior Judge, both being elected. During his term of office the law allowed him an assistant, but he did the work alone with the exception of occasional assistance; and the last year---1886—tried thirty-two felony cases, convicting thirty of them. He was renominated for the office on the first ballot, receiving 132 out of 140 votes in the convention, but was defeated at the election by Colonel Paris, his first law partner, that being a year of general Democratic success in the county. Continuing practice alone until the fall of 1888, Judge Campbell was then nominated and elected Superior Judge for the term of six years, and took his seat on the bench January 7, 1889, being thirty-three years of age and one of the youngest judges in the State. On May 17, 1888, Judge Campbell married Miss Hattie Muscott, daughter of one of the leading horticulturists of the Mount Vernon district. She is a native of Iowa and has lived on the Pacific coast seven years. Judge and Mrs. Campbell, together with his aged mother, reside in their pretty home at Urbita, just outside the city limits, which he purchased at the cost of $8,000. The Judge is much in love with the country and climate of Southern California, and is thoroughly loyal to the State of his adoption.

SOURCE: An Illustrated History of Southern California: Embracing the Counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Peninsula of Lower California… Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890. p.- 533-534

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

JAMES E. MACK,

Public Administrator of San Bernardino County, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in November, 1848, and resided there until twelve years of age. At the breaking out of the war in 1861 he enlisted in the Fourteenth Massachusetts Infantry, serving ninety days as drummer boy. On the expiration of his term he re-enlisted in the Twenty-seventh Massachusetts Infantry for three years, but his mother prevented him being mustered in. In the fervor of his youthful patriotism he determined to try again, and enlisted in the United States Naval Marine Corps, but was again prevented from entering the service by maternal interference. In March, 1865, he entered Mount Pleasant Institute at Amherst, Massachusetts; in September, 1867, he entered Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut, remaining two years, when he left school and started out to engage in the battle of life. Possessing an innate love of travel, Mr. Mack gratified his desire to rove by visiting many of the principal places in the New England, Middle and Western States, during which time he was employed at various vocations, and learned three different trades, namely: shirt-cutting, butter-tub making, and making ladies' hats and bonnet frames. He could apply himself with equal facility to either of these trades, and when in a section of the country where neither availed him he turned his attention to farming or some other business with true Yankee ingenuity.

In 1875 he came to California and for a time worked in a saw-mill in El Dorado County, then went to San Francisco, but, not being able to obtain employment at his trade, went to Arizona in February, 1876. Was engaged for a time in the restaurant business at Yuma, then taught Government school at Camp McDowell, then came to San Bernardino in January, 1877. He first engaged in farming here, then spent a year in the mines. In 1881–'82 he carried on a general store in El Dorado cañon, Nevada; upon returning to San Bernardino County, he was foreman of the Colton Cannery for one year and then accepted the position of Assistant Postmaster in the postoffice, which position he filled three years, when, failing in health from excessive work and close confinement, he was compelled to resign. In the fall of 1885, Mr. Mack laid off and founded the town of Perris, five miles below the San Bernardino County line in San Diego County, on the California Southern Railroad. He built a depot and dug a well, and the railroad company put in a side-track and a water tank, moving them from Pinicate, a mile and a half below. Mr. Mack named the new town in honor of Mr. Fred T. Perris, the chief engineer of the Santa Fé Railway system in California; and that portion of the San Jacinto plains in the vicinity took the name of the town and is known as Perris Valley. The town consisted of 160 acres, to which two additions have since been made. There are now 160 voters in that district. Mr. Mack disposed of all his town lots, but he and his partner, T. H. Paler, have considerable land interests in Perris valley.

In July, 1887, Mr. Mack in company with others incorporated the Citrus Water Works, who own 7,000 acres of choice land in the valley of the Gila river, near Gila Bend in Maricopa County, Arizona. They have constructed a canal over nineteen miles in length, with a capacity of 20,000 inches of water with which to irrigate their tract. An actual test shows the land to be well adapted to the production of raisin grapes and deciduous fruits. Mr. Mack was one of the projectors of the Mentone and Great Bear valley toll road, which, when completed, will be an improvement of immense value to San Bernardino County, as Bear valley is destined to become one of the greatest summer resorts on the Pacific coast, when it is rendered accessible by a good wagon road. Six stockholders comprise the company, of which Mr. Mack is president and his partner, Mr. Palmer, is secretary. It is estimated that from $12,000 to $14,000, of which several thousand is already paid in, will complete the road. Considerable work has been done on this end of the road, and the project only awaits sufficient capital to be pushed to completion.

Mr. Mack is a pronounced Republican and a zealous worker in behalf of the party, but has preferred to see his friends, rather than himself, elected to office. But at the urgent request of the local party leaders, he became a candidate for the office of Public Administrator; in the fall of 1888 he was nominated by 103 of the 120 votes in the convention, and was elected by 625 majority to the office in which he is now serving with great efficiency. He takes an active interest in military matters; is special aid-de-camp to the department commander of the G. A. R., and Commander of the W. R. Cornman Post of San Bernardino, and is First Lieutenant and Quartermaster of the Ninth Regiment National Guard of California. He is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, has passed through all the local official chairs, and is Grand Lieutenant Commander of the Select Knights of the order for California.

Mr. Mack was married to Emma L. Sargeant, a native of Maine, in the city of Boston, in October, 1874. Four children, two boys and two girls, comprise their family. The youngest son and daughter, twins, were born February 12, 1889.

Messrs. Mack and Palmer are among the leading and most active in the general insurance business in this city, representing a number of strong companies, whose aggregate capital is $30,000,000.

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

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